Skinny, Fat, Perfect

Skinny Fat Perfect By Laura Fenham

It may appear to be about fighting fat but this book is much more than that. The author has battled with her weight and addiction from an early age and this book is testament to her extremely arduous struggle to overcome her problems. It is an inspirational story of how one sad little girl with a bullying father and a difficult childhood saw herself as worthless and unattractive. She found solace in food, usually the wrong kind, and by the time she reached college she believed she found happiness in a bottle.
There must be thousands of diet books but Laura Fenham’s is a brave expose of her own life and how she overcame her addictions and turned her life around. Not an easy journey with many pitfalls along the way and there are many emotional moments when she strayed from her route. She would leave a help group and on the way home would buy take away food, a classical case of comfort food. This reader felt sympathy with her and occasionally irritation and had to quell the urge to think ‘pull yourself together.’. This is a story that creates empathy with the writer.
‘You are the only one with the power to heal and transform your body’ Laura writes and adds ‘you have created the body you have now due to your lifestyle’. Wise words indeed but not rocket science. It is common sense but we are all guilty of ignoring that.
She advocates forgetting negativity as you look at yourself in the mirror. Be positive. Start to love your body and she begins with her pinkie! A small part of the body with little contribution to life but it is a start.
This is a book on a mission and I am not the only woman on the planet who could relate to the sentiments expressed by this very skilled and honest writer. I am always ‘starting a diet’ and I often look in the mirror in disgust.
The writer does not preach but she does inspire. Laura was an extreme case but what she achieved is amazingly well documented in this fascinating and very readable book.
She stresses that motivation is the first necessity if you intend dealing with body issues and that has to start in the mind. She struggled hard to ditch negativity and be positive as she moved forward very slowly initially but gaining confidence as she began to both feel and look better. She is adamant that we have the power to recreate ourselves to become a person that we would admire rather than loathe. This is not a diet book but it is a life style book. She believes diet club approach weight loss from a negative point of view and she leads readers to be positive about the process involved and with staying power you will succeed to improve the quality of your life.
There are wonderful images to help readers such as visualizing a bridge that will take you from what you are now to what you want to be. Or seeing a switch in her brain that with one flick you can take control and turn life around. And this book will encourage others to emulate the writer. It is mesmerizing and uplifting and readers cannot fail to be inspired. Details of exercises that readers can use as they progress are included.
I am full of admiration for a frank writer who turned her life totally around and is not afraid to use her experiences to illustrate her struggles and produce this superb and well written book.
Sheila A. Grant

A very inspiring collection of advices about how to start respecting our bodies and having a positive attitude towards ourselves.

Body positivity is to be lauded in all forms, especially in a book that is so well done!

This book shows the connection between self image and excess weight. Your lack of self love of your body may be one of the reasons you have not let go of your extra pounds. I found this be very informative and plan to explore its messag

There are no secret weapons or earth-shaking revelations in this book. It is one woman's story of how she finally shed her victim hood and took control of her life and her body. As we all know too well, weight control and body image are not problems that are solved overnight. There is no silver bullet.
What makes this book unusual is it talks about the why behind the reason you are sabotaging your health. It is very 80's to talk about the inner child but let's face it, our perceptions came from somewhere.
What I truly liked about this book was summed up in "if not now, when". We all have the demons. They make us fearful. Change and rehabilitation happen only when one takes control. In order to take control, we have to release those negatives, day by day, step by step.. Let them go.
Coming to terms with one's body is perhaps the hardest thing to do.. Again the author comes up with no new revelations. She suggests positive self talk and reinforcement. She suggests having a partner to help. All very good ideas. She says stop comparing.
The jury is out whether that is enough to turn off the negative voices but it surely does work as far as a way to release the weight..
I give this book four purrs and two paws up.